


you are always in my heart

by jangsol



Category: Dreamcatcher (Korea Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Blood, Blood Loss, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Blood and Violence, Elemental Magic, F/F, Final Fantasy - AU, Fluff, Gun Violence, Light Angst, Magic, Magic-Users, Mild Gore, Swordfighting, Swords
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:35:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23940019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jangsol/pseuds/jangsol
Summary: “Please don’t push me away anymore?”She gently laid a hand on the younger girl’s head, caressing it tenderly.“I won’t.”
Relationships: Lee Gahyeon/Lee Yoobin | Dami
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	you are always in my heart

**Author's Note:**

> I guess these are the trigger warnings:  
> Swords, guns, magic, blood, burning, potential major character death
> 
> Beta's reaction: I want to throw my laptop out the window. And it's company issued.
> 
> He was in for a ride.

Gahyeon was sure Lee Yubin hated her.

No, it wasn’t because they were paired together on a mission, and that she was dragging the captain down. Even when they were at the Academy, Gahyeon was sure Lee Yubin despised her. It was always the cold shoulder, the hard stare, the curt words that were spoken to her that convinced Gahyeon the older girl had something against her.

“Yubin isn’t the kind of person to hate you without reason, Gahyeon,” her sister said. Maybe that was because Siyeon was older than Yubin and she couldn’t be disrespectful to someone older who was also of a higher rank.

“But unnie, I’m pretty sure I did something to offend her,” Gahyeon had whined.

All Siyeon had done was to pat her fondly on the head and told her that she was silly for thinking that way.

Lee Yubin had graduated one year ahead of her, recruited straight into the Guardian Core and given the pseudonym—Dami. The girl was exceptional in military tactics and the art of wielding magic. Together with her gunblade, she was unstoppable; one soldier the equivalent of a hundred on the battlefield. She climbed the ranks quickly, attaining the rank of Captain within a year, and was revered among her peers and seniors alike.

Gahyeon on the other hand was just an average student at the Academy. She worked hard, but she would never attain the same level of expertise as Lee Yubin. Now she was a 2nd Lieutenant, paired with Captain Dami on a recon mission deep in enemy territory. Gahyeon wondered what high-ranking officer thought it was a good idea to put the both of them together.

She climbed over a huge fallen log, slightly out of breath as she did so. They had been walking for three hours—she was fatigued from the hot summer air and heat. Dami was far ahead, walking at a steady pace. Gahyeon took a gulp of her own saliva and trugged forward.

“We can stop here to rest if you’d like,” the captain said as she waited for her to catch up.

“No… no I’m fine.”

Under the moonlight, she could see the captain’s unbelieving look.

“We’re resting here.”

“But—”

Dami sat down on a fallen log and gave her a pointed look. Gahyeon decided it was best not to argue.

The lieutenant sat on the log and took a swig at her canteen of water, relieved for the refreshment. Next to her, Dami whispered a spell, covering them with a blue energy shield. It was a simple spell any soldier at the Academy could do; it was the first spell they ever learnt—useful especially in recon missions like this to protect them from ambushes.

Gahyeon reminisced the first time she tried to cast it. She was the last in her class to pass the test. She laughed at herself.

“What’s so funny?”

Gahyeon shook her head. “Just thinking about how hard it was for me to forge one of these when I was at the Academy.”

The captain didn’t say anything for a while. The younger girl wasn’t expecting a conversation with the quiet girl anyway. So when Dami did say something, it came as a surprise.

“You just weren’t channeling your mana properly.” Gahyeon blinked. Was Captain Dami actually saying something else other than a curt huff? Sensing her lack of a response, the captain looked at her like her comment was the most normal thing to say. “What?”

“N-Nothing. It’s just that… this is probably our longest conversation we have had with each other, _ever_.”

 _Now_ , the captain gave her a curt huff and remained silent. The lieutenant inwardly cursed at herself for ruining the moment.

“You focus too much thinking about how your mana should flow, and your pose is too tense. The mana is a part of you. You just need to let it flow.”

Too shocked for words, Gahyeon had no response other than, “Ahh…”

“Contrary to what you believe, you’re a good soldier, Lee Gahyeon. Your sense of awareness for your surroundings and your memory of detail is excellent for recon missions. With the right guidance, the higher ups will see that you’ll be an asset to the Guardian Core.”

The younger girl had to do a double take. Did Lee Yubin just speak real sentences to her? Not only that, but also complimented her? Gahyeon had to pinch herself.

“I… never knew you thought of me that way.”

Dami raised an eyebrow. “Anyone could see it. You’re just too harsh on yourself if you think you’re the worst cadet at the Academy.”

_Right._

“If you’ve rested enough we should go.”

There it was, the curt, cold Dami that Gahyeon was used to. The shield dissolved as the captain stood, and she didn’t wait for her before setting off.

Gahyeon felt it with her magic before she heard it—the sound of a suppressed bullet whizzing through the air. Rushing forward, she pushed Dami to the ground, the bullet embedding itself into the ground behind them with a soft thud.

Ambush.

Gahyeon whispered a spell for light, throwing it high above them to illuminate their surroundings. Dami had already drawn her gunblade, rushing towards the nearest enemy. Gahyeon gripped onto the hilt of her ninjato, activating the folded blade as she dodged a katana that was swung at her. She blocked the next downward strike and drew her Glock from her thigh, shooting the attacker in the chest twice.

From the corner of her eye she saw Dami form an icicle with her magic, throwing it at the sniper perched on the branch above them. The man fell with a cry, spine cracking as he hit the ground.

One… two… three… Gahyeon counted. There should be—

“I think we got them all—”

Seeing the glint of the blade a little too late, Gahyeon could only push the captain aside, before she registered a searing pain lance through her body. The katana lodged itself into her, all the way to the hilt. She collapsed to the ground when the attacker pulled the blade out with a jerk. A thud shortly after was the only indication Gahyeon needed to know that Dami had disposed of the attacker.

***

With an angry growl, Dami swung her blade at the enemy, slicing across his throat cleanly. The man fell to the ground, gurgling in his own blood.

Dami cursed at herself. She should’ve known better, she should’ve been more aware of her surroundings, she should’ve seen this all coming. And now, because of her incompetence, a soldier under her command was dying.

The light from Gahyeon’s magic had died out, and Dami quickly whispered another spell. Under the dim light, Dami could finally see how bad the situation was—there was blood everywhere, staining the dark uniform and the ground beneath. There was no way Dami could call for a medical backup right now. They were too far into enemy territory and it would be far too dangerous to bring a medic in. Dami cursed at herself again for not studying healing magic hard enough.

She dropped to her knees and applied pressure to the wound, realizing that she was pushing a little too hard because Gahyeon whimpered beneath her.

“I’m sorry, Gahyeon. I’m sorry. I should’ve seen that coming.” The vision in front of her blurred, and Dami realized she was crying only when she tasted salt on her lips. “ _Why_ didn’t you just put up a shield?” She raised her voice, angry at herself for being careless, angry at Gahyeon because the younger girl had always put others before herself.

A smile tugged at her lips. Dami wondered how someone could still smile on the verge of death.

“You know I’m bad with shields…”

With trembling lips, Dami whispered the incantation for a healing spell, trying to concentrate, letting her mana flow through her body, into her arms, causing her hands to glow green. Gahyeon winced as the magic did its work.

“It should’ve been me. _I_ should be the one bleeding to death. Not you, Gahyeon, not you. You were always the better healer…”

“Yubinie…” Dami froze, and she almost broke the healing spell she was performing. It had been years, hell, it could even be more than a decade since she had heard that nickname. Gahyeon’s voice was dangerously soft when she continued. “What happened to us…?”

Dami gritted her teeth as the tears started to fall onto her hands. _What_ had _happened to them?_ She had known for a very long time now, the feelings that she has kept locked, deep down in her being. The feelings she had for Gahyeon ever since they were little. But she never could say it—the words would never come. And all these years, Yubin just watched from afar as they grew apart as childhood friends, choosing to care for the younger girl from the shadows. Gahyeon would never reciprocate her feelings, so Yubin distanced herself, and pushed the feeling down, hoping it would one day disappear. It never did.

“It was you wasn’t it?” Gahyeon placed a hand weakly on her thigh. “Those notes before my final cadet assessment—” Dami closed her eyes and willed herself to concentrate on the spell. “I can recognize that writing from anywhere.” Gahyeon tried to laugh, but it turned into a coughing fit instead.

“Gahyeon, _please_ , save your energy.”

“Yubinie… I know…” Dami shook her head, refusing to believe what she was hearing. “I had always known…” The tears were flowing freely now. The captain bit her lip to prevent herself from making noise. Was the girl she loved going to die in front of her by her own hands? Despite the spell, she could still feel the blood seeping in between her fingers. _Why won’t it stop bleeding?_ She whispered another spell with a trembling voice. “Yubinie…”

“No, Gahyeon, you’re going to make it, all right. You’re not dying. You’re, not, dying.”

“I… love you…”

The hand on her thigh slid to the ground.

“No… no no no no no, _Gahyeon_!”

***

It was daybreak by the time she made it back to their makeshift base. She trekked the entire distance, Gahyeon limp in her arms. She saw Yoohyeon running out, silver hair glinting under the rising sun.

“Dami, what happened?” The medic asked, voice urgent.

“We were ambushed.”

The medic yelled for a stretcher before turning her attention back to the injured girl, lifting the layers of their military uniform to inspect the wound. She could see where the blade had punctured the flesh, the surrounding area peppered with second degree burns—where Dami had placed a metal to the skin to sear the puncture shut. Very neatly done. The doctor expected nothing less of the captain.

“I doubt it was an easy choice,” Yoohyeon said.

“The bleeding wouldn’t stop…”

The doctor nodded, empathizing with the soldier. Cauterizing a wound had never been a pretty sight—it had jarred the captain. That much she could tell from the haunted look in her eyes. Yoohyeon did not want to know how the lieutenant had screamed from the procedure.

The medical staff set the stretcher on the ground next to them, and Dami gingerly lowered the unconscious girl onto the canvas. Yoohyeon threw out a series of instructions for the nurses which was promptly carried out as they rushed back to the medical unit. The doctor squeezed her shoulder and offered a smile.

“Yubin, you did great. Gahyeon will be fine; I’ll make sure of it.”

***

Yubin bit her nails as she fidgeted in her seat, the beeping of the heart-rate monitor being the only indication that Gahyeon was alive. It had been two days since the recon mission. Yoohyeon said that Gahyeon was all right, but the time that it was taking for her to wake up was not. That is, until the girl in front of her stirred. She shot up from her seat.

“Gahyeon?” The younger girl reached out for her, and she immediately offered her hand. The grasp was weak. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got hit by a truck,” Gahyeon croaked. The situation was anything but funny. Granted the circumstances, Yubin was glad Gahyeon could still crack a joke. “Will you help me up, please?”

“You need to lie down, Gahyeon.”

“Yubin, please.”

Yubin helped her, despite the fact that she shouldn’t, gently cupping her neck to lift her up from the bed. With Gahyeon sitting at the edge, she realized this was the closest she had ever been to her, physically, in a _long_ time. Her heart raced, so hard, Yubin thought it would jump out of her chest. Gahyeon leaned forward and rested her head on her shoulder, an arm wrapped weakly around her waist.

“Please don’t push me away anymore?”

The older girl could hear the underlying fragility in the question—years of pent up words, thoughts, emotions, all packed into one sentence that ended in a heartbreaking question. Yubin’s misjudgement had wasted them decades—time they could’ve spent together. She didn’t want to waste them anymore.

She laid a hand on the younger girl’s head, caressing it tenderly.

“I won’t.”

**Author's Note:**

> Again, my brain decided to come up with this idea instead of writing my Siyoo piece for the fic fest. Idk how I am going to complete the story in the next 4 days D:
> 
> https://curiouscat.me/rossier_sol


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